Planned Parenthood Puts Its Only Manhattan Clinic Up For Sale at $39M

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York is looking to sell off and close its only Manhattan clinic as both financial and political pressures build for the nonprofit.

Planned Parenthood put its seven-story, 43,365-square-foot building at 26 Bleecker Street in NoHo up for sale for $39 million, according to Planned Parenthood and Cushman & Wakefield (CWK), which is marketing the sale.

The sale of Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan Health Center, which will require state approval, comes as part of the nonprofit’s “ongoing strategy to ensure future, long-term patient access for underserved communities throughout New York state,” according to a Wednesday announcement from PPGNY.

“Our commitment to our patients is at the heart of our mission to provide equitable access to sexual and reproductive health care and education,” Wendy Stark, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood NY, said in a statement.

“The gap between inflation and stagnant reimbursement rates has forced us to make difficult but necessary decisions, including selling 26 Bleecker Street, home of the Manhattan Health Center,” Stark added. “Funds from the sale will allow us to sustain services for systemically underserved communities — the people who need us most.”

Stark added that Planned Parenthood “sees a future” where it can “build a new state-of-the-art health center in Manhattan,” similar to its health centers in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, with the “first step” being putting 26 Bleecker on the market, according to the announcement.

The building on the corner of Bleecker and Mott streets has served as Planned Parenthood’s health center since the early 1990s, but the “outdated facility is not designed to support the health care needs of the future,” the nonprofit said.

Now, the property will be available to buyers with “numerous conversion options,” including office, residential or mixed-use space, C&W said.

“We are excited to offer buyers the opportunity to purchase a value-add/conversion opportunity in NoHo, one of the city’s most premier submarkets,” C&W’s Bobby Carrozzo said in a statement. “The property’s flexible zoning makes this an ideal candidate for a number of potential uses.”

Carrozzo is marketing the sale along with C&W’s Craig Waggner, John Ciraulo, Michael Gembecki, Carri Lyon, David Lebenstein, Evan Lush and Jenna Catalon.

While Planned Parenthood’s NoHo clinic remains open to patients for the time being, the impending sale will leave the health care provider with no locations for Manhattan residents at a time when the future of reproductive rights isn’t certain. 

The nonprofit, which provides care to patients no matter their insurance status or ability to pay, said it has fought to “overcome social and political obstacles” within the country’s health system, but the “gap between operating costs and low payer reimbursement rates will continue to widen,” Planned Parenthood said.

In turn, the company has had to “carefully preserve and prioritize resources” to sustain operations and ensure access to its sexual and reproductive health services, according to the release.

That included shutting down four clinics across New York state in the past few months, including one on Staten Island, the Gothamist reported.

In August, Planned Parenthood also stopped providing abortions after 20 weeks at its Manhattan clinic, where more than 180,000 patients visited in the last year, according to the Gothamist.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.